Welcome to Mariposa Jungle Lodge

Choosing Mariposa Jungle Lodge for our first trip to Belize was the single best decision we made! We are a family of 6. Our children, at the time of the trip were 16, 14, 13 and 11. It's hard to know where to start this review as any single one of the following points would justify an "excellent" rating. The reservation process was easy! We let them know our family size and preferred travel dates and they quickly let us know that they had a cabana available. We were going to be in Belize from June 9th - 16th which is one week after their peak season ends. Our first 5 days would be at the Mariposa Jungle Lodge and the last 3 days would be at Xanadu Resort on San Pedro. They gave us an extensive list of activities to choose from, any of which sounded incredible. We choose cave tubing, a visit to Caracol, and zip lining. We paid a deposit and were on our way! At this point they sent us questionnaire about food preferences and dietary needs. We have a shellfish allergy and gluten sensitivity so this was an important step. Mariposa took care of organizing the second part of our trip to Xanadu as it was part of their Belize Vacation Package deal. This means they scheduled pickups and dropoffs from the airport, all of our daily excursions, and our meals, and the transfer between resorts. It was an incredible relief to have Mariposa Jungle Lodge manage everything, leaving us to focus on flights, passports, and packing. We landed in Belize City, went thru customs and walked out of the airport. The transfer driver was there waiting for us. The lodge is about 90 minutes from the airport, just outside of the main strip of San Antonio, but you wouldn't know it! Once you make it up the driveway, it feels like you are deep in the jungle. The pictures don't do the resort justice! It is absolutely gorgeous and meticulously maintained. Everywhere you look you see flowers, exotic plants, and hummingbirds. So many birds! The sounds of the jungle were all around us and we even heard howler monkeys at one point! The pool is small but incredibly relaxing with plenty of lounge chairs. We stayed in the Blue Morpho cabana, which was basically a 2 bedroom house. It fit all 6 of us with no problem. I think we could have been perfectly happy just relaxing at the resort all 8 days. The staff was second to none! Ravi and Leo were the two concierges who took care of us all week and went out of their way to keep us happy and comfortable. One of our favorite moments was courtesy of Ravi. We had mentioned that our young son had always wanted to try raw sugar cane. That evening at dinner, there was a bowl of freshly cut sugar cane! He had stopped by his grandmothers house on his lunch break to get some, just for us. It was such a great moment! Breakfast, lunch, and dinner never failed to impress. The cooks at Mariposa created unique and authentic Belizean dishes that satisfied even our most picky eater. The fruits were the most fresh we had ever tasted. And the cocktails were made with only the best ingredients. It was a sad day that we had to come back to boring American cuisine! Lastly, I will mention the excursions. Mariposa scheduled them for us, all we had to do was show up on time. The guides were the most fun and knowledgeable we have ever had! Darwin (from CMA Tours) was a family favorite. He made sure that each of us were having fun at all times. All in all, it was the most incredible vacation we have ever done (and we do a lot of them)! We have already discussed going back. Do yourself a favor, choose Mariposa Jungle Lodge.